Letter From Wesley Township

The Marietta Register, November 13, 1873

Plymouth, Ohio, November 10, 1873

Editors Register:

We have waited long and patiently to see something in your columns from our section of the county, and have at last concluded that Wesley must be heard from, even if our own natural modesty be sacrificed in the attempt.

It may not be generally known to "all whom it may concern" in Washington County, that Plymouth, the grand center of trade and commercial metropolis of Wesley Township, is a village of no mean pretensions. Located among the hills in the western part of the township, it presents an inviting appearance and becomes more inviting as one becomes better acquainted with its inhabitants. In population it numbers perhaps 250 souls. It boasts of three dry-goods and grocery stores, one hardware, and one drug store, two shoe shops, one harness, one wagon and one blacksmith shop.

We have three physicians, two resident ministers, and no lawyers. We never quarrel in Plymouth. Besides all these, we can claim the best hotel (so voted, I believe, by all travelers) in this section, kept by Doctor Smith, a man who has no conscientious scruples about giving a traveler a warm reception and a good dinner at living prices. Then we have a tobacco house which gives employment to several hands, owned and carried on by our enterprising young merchant, S. B. Kirby. Last, but not least, we are better situated in regard to schools than any other village of the same size in Southeastern Ohio.

First, we have the common village school, free to all, and I understand, carried on very successfully by the present teacher, Mr. Frank Cheadle. Next in order comes a tuition school, managed and taught by Miss Marietta Heald under the supervision of the Society of Friends and, if a school is to be judged from the opinions of its scholars, we must certainly pronounce this one a success.

Lastly, in a very pleasant part of the town, Bartlett Academy is located, and near the academy a large two-story boarding house is situated for the purpose of furnishing rooms for students. This school is now under the supervision of W. J. Cook and from the general good feeling which seems to exist between him and his students, we think all must be well. The fall term of this school closes soon, and indications at present are very favorable for a large and successful winter term, commencing November 24th.

An assistant teacher has been obtained from Lebanon, Ohio, and Plymouth has strong hopes that an institution of learning will be established within her limits that will give her a high position in the educational world.

The moral state of our village is far above the average. We have not a liquor shop in the place, and an intoxicated man upon our streets would be a novelty. Very little swearing or immorality of any kind is ever heard, and we have as few specimens of the "genus loafer" as can be found in any place of the same size and business.

Our farmers are complaining bitterly about the price at which they are compelled to part with their tobacco this fall, but Mr. Kirby tells them it is as well as they can do and that ends the matter.

We are very sorry to hear that our young friend, Dr. Hobson, is about to leave us. He goes to Flushing in this state, I believe. May good luck go with him and her who so recently promised to love and obey him as long as life lasts. We congratulate the people of Flushing. "What is our loss is their gain."

I have already troubled you longer than I intended, and now that your readers know our status as a city, I shall content myself hereafter by giving you a "plain, unvarnished tale" of our doings, misdoings, &c., ad infinitum.

Wesley

 

Abner Lord - Early Businessman of Marietta

The Marietta Register July 17, 1873

Among the prominent business men of Marietta at the beginning of this century was Col. Abner Lord. Co. Lord emigrated from North Lynn Connecticut, to Vienna, Wood County, Virginia, soon after the close of the Indian War of 1795. Vienna was a small village, situated on the Ohio, just above  the farm owned by Dr. Joseph Spencer, and nearly opposite the residence of the late Judge Cutler. It contained some twenty or thirty houses, all of which have since been removed. The place, though very handsomely situated on beautiful ground, was not favorable to the growth of a town. 

The exact time when Col. Lord removed to Marietta, I am not able to give, probably about 1800. He engaged in merchandizing, and also in ship building. His place of business was in a building at the foot of Front Street, on the Ohio riverbank. His shipyard was on the ground now occupied by the Phoenix Mills. His dwelling house, which he erected for his own use, was the house now occupied by Charles Biszantz, known as the "Biszantz House," on Butler Street.

His master builder in the shipyard was Whittington W. McGrath. He continued ship building from 1802 to 1807 inclusive, when the business was suspended by the embargo. During that period, he built the following named vessels:

1802 - Brig "Marietta" 150 tons.

1803 - Schooner "Whitney," 75 tons.

1803 - Schooner "McGrath," 75 tons.

1804 - Ship "Temperance," 230 tons.

1805 - Ship "John Atkinson," 320 tons.

1807 - Ship "Rufus Putnam," 300 tons.

1807 - Brig "Collotta," 140 tons.

Col. Lord's wife was Miss Mary Selden, sister of Mrs. Dr. Spencer of Wood County, Virginia.

Their children were Sophia, Polly, Betsy, Temperance, Eliza, and Abner R. Sophia married George Cass of Muskingum County, and Polly married Jonathan Guitteau, Marietta. These marriages were on the 18th of May 1809. Betsy married Capt. Eliphalet Fraser, November 28, 1809;Temperance married Thomas Backus of Franklin County; Eliza married Major A. J. McDowell of Columbus, the father of Gen. Irvin McDowell, U.S. Army.

Abner R. Lord was a successful merchant in the city of New York, but was never married. He died many years since.

Capt. Fraser was killed by the explosion of a steamboat on the Mississippi River. He left two sons, James A. Fraser and Abner L. Fraser, both well known business men of Cincinnati, who are now living. Mrs. Fraser afterwards married Hon. Benjamin Tappen of Steubenville, some time U.S. Senator from Ohio.

Col. Lord was married a second time, to Miss Ely of New York. They had three daughters: Phebe D. was married to Dr. Andrews of Steubenville; Sarah C. was married to John Ely of New York; and Mary S. who died without marrying, at the age of 20.

Col. Lord removed from Marietta about 1811, to Franklin County, Ohio, where he died in 1821.

A.T.N.

Woman Is Appointed to Indian Service at a Handsome Salary

The Register-Leader, May 4, 1907

Friends here of Mrs. Elsie Newton, widow of the late Dr. C. William Newton, who was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Newton, will be pleased to learn of an honor which was recently conferred upon her. The following is a copy of an item recently sent out under a Washington dateline:

"Mrs. Elsie Newton of Washington, D.C., is the first woman to receive a commission as special agent of the Indian Bureau. She was appointed April 23 at a salary of $2,000 per year. She is a daughter of the late General John Eaton, for many years United States Commissioner of Education [and president of Marietta College, 1885-91], and the widow of a physician once in the Indian service. 

"Commissioner Leupp proposes to assign her to the department which purchases supplies for the Indians. He says a woman knows more about what Indian children should wear than a man does, and that she is a better judge of the quality of goods.

"Mrs. Newton will make a tour of the Indian schools of the west, immediately, and take notes on the class of wearing apparel suitable for the Indian pupils in the different localities."

Mrs. Newton is well known in Marietta, where she has frequently visited the parents of her husband.

Marietta Youth and Sweetheart Dressed as Man Are Arrested

Marietta Daily Times, January 27, 1912

Travel in Box-Car When Money Gives Out.

"Man" Trying to Get Warm is Discovered to be Pretty Hotel Waitress.

Fall in Love at First Sight When Marietta College Eleven Played Buchtel in Game at Akron.

Delos B. Stull of this city is under arrest in Youngstown in company with Miss Anna Eckert, a pretty hotel waitress of Akron, who had been masquerading for several days as a man and was traveling with Stull in a box car, according to information received here today. Anna was nearly frozen when she got out of the car and while she was trying to get warm, it was discovered that she was not what she pretended to be.

The story of their escapade and their consequent capture and arraignment reads like a chapter of weird fiction.

The Eckert girl, who formerly lived in Akron, was employed as a waitress in the Union Hotel in that city, and had resided there but a short time. She gives her age as 18 years. Stull, who says he is 25, prior to his departure from Akron about 10 days ago, was employed at the plant of the B. F. Goodrich Rubber company and boarded at the Clarendon Hotel.

According to their story, told after their arrest, they ran away from Akron to get married after they had earned enough money to start life together. They went to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, from Akron, but were unsuccessful in finding employment there and started their return trip for Akron. When they reached East Youngstown they were compelled to leave the box car because the girl was almost frozen.

They went to a house and asked to get warm. This they were granted, and during their conversation one of the "men" was discovered to be a woman. Police were notified and arrested the pair on suspicion. The girl could give no good reason for donning the men's togs. She said that her mother lived in Poughkeepsie, New York, and that she had no relatives in Ohio. Stull claimed his home to be in Marietta, where his mother is an instructor in the schools.

The pair, when taken into custody, did not possess a cent of money, but two suit cases containing their clothes, arrived in East Youngstown Monday. They had been sent on from Jeannette C.O.D.

Stull and the Eckert girl took their arrest as a matter of course, but later seemed to grow remorseful. Stull says he met the girl while the Marietta College football team was playing the Buchtel eleven in Akron last fall. He immediately fell in love with her. Consequently he went to Akron and secured a position there, that he might be near her.

Chair Company Has New Factory Superintendent

 The Marietta Daily Times, September 4, 1945

Carl A. Johnson, former vice-president and general manager of the Cron-Kills Company of Piqua, has been appointed to the position of general factory superintendent of Marietta Chair Company's plant and assumed his duties today. He will move his family to Marietta as soon as a suitable dwelling can be found.

In supervision of the manufacture of the Marietta plant, Johnson will not be new, as he has spent his entire life in the furniture manufacturing business.

The former superintendent, M. H. Kantzer, who came here from Peru, Indiana, in 1936, has resigned. Kantzer and his wife reside at 208 Wooster St. He has not disclosed his plans for the future.

During the war Marietta Chair Company has made many thousands of chairs for the various departments of the U.S. Government, but has not manufactured products requiring other than wood working machinery and equipment, and therefore the task of reconversion is not as difficult as it otherwise would be.

Established in 1858 this company has furnished furniture to the retail trade throughout the country through its various sales departments. For some time that part of the line designed for civilian use has been marketed through the sales department of Marietta Chair and Furniture Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marietta Chair Company, with warerooms and show rooms in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. R. R. Schuldt, who resides in Pittsburgh, is the president of both corporations, and visits Marietta and Cincinnati at regular intervals in an executive capacity.

Without much pretense Marietta Chair Company has gone along through floods and depressions as well as during periods of prosperity, and if it were not for the fact that the plant is located near the center of population of Marietta, perhaps many citizens would not know that so many people are occupied within its boundaries. Some of the employees have been employed nowhere else during their whole lives.

The company has a large backlog of orders on its books and will immediately expand its operations, making room for additional workmen. Necessarily this will be a gradual process because of the difficulty in obtaining certain materials.

The Diamond Photo Gallery

Marietta Olio, June 28, 1873

The Diamond Photo Gallery is on Front Street, nearly opposite the Post Office. Mr. Bennet, the operator, is an experienced photographer and warrants his work to please, or no sale. but it does please, and does sell! 

He will make a likeness anywhere from 50 cents to $50. He will enlarge an old likeness to "life size," or anything smaller, and finish it in oil colors, water colors, or India Ink. He keeps frames of the usual sizes, and fits them with French glass at a very small profit. Call and examine his work, his frames and his prices.